Scenes of Fire
by Therese Delacoeur
Summary: Oneshots for Book 3: Fire, starting at episode 306 and ending at 309, one from each Gaang POV. Lots of angsty fluff and romance, with a little slapstick humor, unintentional kissing, and good ol' fashioned group bonding thrown in. Please R&R!
1. Scene One: Friends?

**Scene One: Episode 306 "The Avatar and the Fire Lord"**

**I figured since I was having so much fun reading and reviewing everyone else's stuff, I'd give everyone else the same opportunity. Enjoy!**

**Summary: After the Gaang leaves Roku's island, Katara says something unthinkable to Aang, which makes him question everything, including his love for her. Kataang.**

**I DO NOT OWN AVATAR OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. The story is all mine, though!**

The breeze whispered and scraped against the barren volcanic soil of Roku's island. It tugged at the clothes of the four travelers standing on the cliff's edge, familiarly ruffled everyone's hair like it, too, was a friend who belonged in the group.

A friendship, Aang mused, that might have transcended lifetimes and continents to emerge once more from the spirit realm to unite yet again in this world. He could feel Avatar Roku's spirit lingering in the air behind them, as if it was imagining a different set of friends that would've stood there a century before. Aang remembered the wistful, happy look Roku'd had when they had visited all of his old friends, and he remembered the open love and adoration he'd seen on his previous life's face when they had visited his wife. Did Aang look like that whenever he was with Katara? He hoped not. It was too obvious, too open.

And then Roku was gone, and Toph was tugging free of his and Katara's hands and grumbling that all she'd done was ask a silly question, there was no need to turn it into a moment for silliness, Twinkletoes. That set Katara off – "How could you think friends are silly?!" – and Sokka had to drag Toph back to Appa, who was napping on the slope below them, before everyone was calmed down. The moment was gone, though Aang would remember the feeling of their strength and support, the one moment that he had let their love flow free of the barriers that (if he was being honest) he had erected around himself to keep anyone else from getting hurt.

"Aang!" Katara called from Appa's saddle. "Are you coming?"

"Come on, Avatar, let's get a move on!" Sokka interrupted, waving frantically as if Aang hadn't already been looking towards them. He leaned dangerously far over the edge in his attempt to convey the urgency of the situation. The color-coded schedule fluttered and twisted in his hand, and Aang could see from where he was standing on the cliff all the cross-outs and corrections made by Katara whenever Sokka wasn't looking so that they'd have time to rest. "We've gotta make the next island by night fall!" Too bad Katara hadn't made a correction to today's schedule.

Aang grinned and shook his head as Toph dragged Sokka back into the saddle. He airbended a breeze to help him leap across the black ground and sprang lightly onto his air bison's head. Appa growled a greeting and Aang scratched behind the bison's ears. Appa purred with appreciation and Aang grinned. "Missed you, too, buddy," he whispered.

"Aang!" Sokka's wail was pitiful. "We've gotta hurry!"

Aang rolled his eyes but chirped, "Yip yip!"

Appa rose gracefully into the sky, leaving Roku's island behind forever. Aang twisted in his seat to watch the island slowly become swallowed by the blue horizon, and he felt a pang in his heart to know that he was leaving Roku behind.

A graceful brown hand touched Aang's shoulder and broke him from his staring reverie. He looked up into Katara's understanding eyes. "Get some rest, Aang," she said softly. "I'll take care of the cloud cover."

A few thumps and a loud "Ow!" made both children glance over their shoulders to watch as Toph tried to keep Sokka from bouncing around Appa's back. Aang winced in sympathy – he knew from experience just how much that particular jab hurt. "Are you sure?" he asked, anxious about leaving Katara alone to bend _and_ babysit.

Katara rolled her eyes, a habit she'd picked up from Aang. "Just sleep, Aang," she ordered, and then crawled back over the saddle rim.

Aang smiled as the clouds descended and cloaked them in a white haze. "You two shut up or I'll…" he heard Katara say before drifting into the peaceful blank realm of his dreams.

Aang didn't wake up until Appa landed beneath a cliff. The low vibrations shook him gently awake, though Aang didn't get up until he heard Toph and Katara start to squabble over where they were going to set up camp. Sighing, he bended a puff of air to push him upright and slid down to the ground on Appa's silky mane.

Sokka looked up from where he was setting up a ring of stones for the night's campfire. "Hey, Aang, nice to see you up!"

Aang grinned. "Good to be up." He raised one eyebrow as he saw the black-and-blue spots that covered Sokka's bare arm. "Rough day."

Sokka winced and rubbed one particularly nasty bruise absentmindedly. "You could say that."

"Why don't you get Katara to look at those?" Aang asked, curious. It was odd for the waterbender to leave anyone injured for any length of time.

Sokka scowled at his sister's back as he walked towards Aang. Katara continued arguing with Toph, completely ignoring the look if she even saw it. "She says I deserved it for being a noisy, whiney iguana-seal pup." He pulled a long face. "Can you believe that?"

"Yes," Aang replied, straight-faced.

"Everyone's a critic," Sokka muttered. He reached behind Aang to grab the few remaining bags of gear that had been attached to Appa's saddle with leather straps. Aang turned around to help, but then Toph's voice rose to a new pitch of irritation.

"What if it rains? You'll be glad we're under this cliff then," Toph yelled, motioning around them and nearly hitting Katara in the face with her wild gestures.

"I can bend the rain away, remember?" Katara yelled back.

"Oh, in your sleep?" Toph grinned when Katara huffed grumpily. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

"But sleeping by the river will be better! There's fish to catch for supper, and the water's close enough so that we can heat it!"

"Why would we want to do _that_?"

"Oh, I don't know, Toph," Katara said, her voice simply dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe so we can get _clean_? Oh, that's right, it's not like _you'd_ care about personal hygiene."

"Ladies!" Aang slid in between the two spitting girls just as Toph was about to make what he was certain was a very unladylike comment. This seemed like a good time to stretch his Avatar duties as peacemaker. "Let's just camp here for the night. Toph's right, Katara, it looks like rain, and you really do need to sleep. Don't waste your energy bending when you don't need to."

"Ha!" Toph's voice was triumphant from behind Aang's back. "Told you!"

Katara stared at Aang in irritation and astonishment. "Who died and made you Avatar?"

Aang's grey eyes grew cold. He knew it was just a saying. He'd heard it often enough in the various towns they'd stopped but to hear it from Katara's lips… It was too personal to let go. "Avatar Roku did, actually."

Aang watched Katara's eyes grow wide at his words and the color leech from her cheeks as his words processed. He didn't wait around to hear what she'd say next. He leapt to the cliff face and raced down to the river, leaving the three children blinking at one another in confusion and shame over Aang's rare display of temper.

Katara walked down to the shore later that night after the others were asleep. Aang expected her to come and was prepared. Or, at least, he'd tried to prepare. He'd spent the majority of the evening meditating, trying to understand and control his emotions. Anger and hurt and betrayal were swirling and mixing in his mind, confusing him. How did Katara see him? As a friend, or as the Avatar, someone to be tolerated just because he was supposed to save the world? Deep down, Aang knew that Katara truly cared about him, but her words had still hit deeply, still created doubts and worries where there had been none before. What had happened to the unified, strong group that had supported him this afternoon? Where had it gone in just a few hours? But that was the problem when you opened yourself up to other people – it was easier to get hurt. He should never have let his walls down, even to his friends. Even to Katara, the girl who after everything, he still loved. It would just hurt him.

When Katara found him on a little grassy knoll looking down on the river, he still wasn't sure exactly how he felt about her, about him, about anything.

"Hi, Aang," Katara said quietly. She motioned at the space beside him. "Can I sit down?"

"If you want to," Aang said coolly. Katara hesitated a bit at his unwelcoming tone, but bravely took her place beside him anyway.

"I'm really sorry about what I said back there," she began. Her words were so soft that Aang wouldn't have been able to hear her if he hadn't bended the air so that her voice sounded like it was in his head.

"I can't believe that I said something so stupid! To you especially," she added, looking at the churning river roaring below them.

Aang couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why me?" he asked her, finally looking at her for the first time since she'd sat down. "Why 'me especially'? Because I'm your friend? Or because I'm the Avatar?"

Katara looked into his eyes, blue meeting grey, and Aang felt as though he could see the pain and hurt his words were causing behind those deep, watering irises. But he didn't let her go, didn't say that it was okay, that he wasn't mad and that he understood she'd been upset and didn't really mean it. Because it _wasn't_ okay, _he_ was upset and hurt and confused and most of all scared that she was there only so she could make sure he could do his job and save the world, even if it meant he would die.

Katara looked away first. Aang watched the full moon gild her golden skin and highlight her smooth neck and high cheekbones, though it threw her eyes into shadow. "I'm sorry, Aang. So sorry. I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated with Toph, and annoyed at not getting my way and having you support her instead of me." Aang could hear the surprise from that memory. "You've grown up so much since the South Pole, and I guess I was just thrown off balance when I realized that you could take charge, too. You have every right to, and I need to step back and let you. Anyway, I know how hard being the Avatar is on you, and I just had to go and make that worse, and I'm sorry."

"You didn't answer my question." Aang turned away and watched the grass sway in the breeze.

Katara was quiet for a moment. "To you especially," she answered eventually, "because I should've known what I said would cause someone I care about a lot of pain. And I don't like that." She rose from her seat and walked back towards their camp, leaving the Avatar alone with his thoughts.

The Avatar was thinking that those words were the ones he had least expected from the girl. The Avatar thought that he would get a tearful apology, or an enraged scream from an insulted girl. Nothing had prepared him for the thoughtful, emotional response that had emerged from the girl, the one that he loved. A stray thought whispered through his mind that maybe Katara loved him, not him the Avatar, but him the boy, Aang, but he quickly shoved it away. It did him no good to linger on false hopes.

But still, the thought returned and would not be shoved away. What if she really did care about him? Persistence, that was what Roku had told him. Maybe he should pursue her now, get up from his mediation to chase her down and finally confess.

But he was probably imagining things. Besides, right now, he needed all of his friends as just that, friends. He had already opened himself up enough this afternoon. It was going to be hard staying strong if (he steeled himself for the thought) one of them died, just as friends. He wasn't sure if he could handle if one of them died who was something more. Someone more. Someone, like Roku's wife had been to him. A partner, a lover, a complete soul mate.

It would have to wait, then. Wait until after the war was through, after the Fire Lord was defeated, after the dust had settled to reveal who still remained. Then Aang could pursue his friend, make her more than just a friend…

A small pebble glinted in the moonlight on the river side, catching his attention. Getting up from his position, he nearly fell over as the blood rushed to his legs. Staggering to the bank, he picked up the smooth stone and turned it over in his fingers, feeling the groves with his sensitive fingertips. He could feel the beginnings of a wave – or was it a puff of air? Maybe it was both – scratched into the surface of the dark river stone. It was much too early to be thinking about Katara like that – hadn't he just decided to wait? – but Aang felt like Roku was guiding his actions, as if his spirit guide was telling him to do it anyway. Stone was patient. It could wait. It wouldn't matter if he couldn't give it away for a while, years maybe, but Aang felt like he was supposed to make this now.

He spent the rest of the night carving out the little stone, making artful whirls and ridges in the design until even he was astonished at the beauty of his masterpiece. Aang hadn't realized he could carve so well, and he pondered his newfound ability as he carefully whittled a tiny hole at the top of the rock. Aang slipped it onto a rough piece of cord and it hung against his chest, a little wave-wind glinting against the smoothness of the river stone. Aang flew back to camp with the stone thumping against his chest and carefully smoothed out his sleeping bags next to Katara. He knew that she would wake up tomorrow and see him sleeping close to her and she would know that he had forgiven her. They would be strong again, like one, against the forces that threatened to swamp their seemingly small and insignificant quartet. Sokka, Toph, Katara, and Aang would make it through together, survive against all odds. They had to. They demanded nothing less than that.

Aang laid his head on the hard dirt, smiling peacefully. He clutched the betrothal necklace in one hand for the briefest of moments before tucking it away beneath his tunic, a secret to be kept until it was really, truly time to reveal it to the one he loved.


	2. Scene Two: Dreamers

**Scene Two: Episode 307 "The Runaway"**

**Disclaimer: I own a lot of things. Avatar: the Last Airbender doesn't happen to be one of them.**

**This episode has yet to air in the US – I know, totally messed up – but I watched it on YouTube. There shouldn't be any spoilers in this oneshot except in the VERY BEGINNING part, but otherwise I think I've maintained the mystery so that the plot (most of if) is not revealed. But just in case you missed it…**

**DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS TO EPISODE 307 "THE RUNAWAY"!!!**

**Summary: Toph is bored. Really bored. And she's trapped in a tiny saddle in the middle of the atmosphere. What could possibly go wrong?**

**Thanks, and please enjoy! Thank you to my reviewers of Scene One; I hope this meets expectations.**

There was no getting around it: Toph was bored.

You'd think that the last dose of excitement, what with being chased by the "Sparky Sparky Boom Man" (or whatever Sokka was calling him these days) and almost burning to death by giant freakish beams of exploding light, would've been enough to last Toph for a lifetime, or at least several days.

But no. Not Toph. It had barely kept her amused for an hour.

Now, Toph was bored. It shouldn't have been surprising, really. It was Toph. Her attitude of decided dissatisfaction with the world meant that nothing could keep her entertained for long.

Her surroundings weren't helping much, either. When you're flying on a six-legged bison and have maybe twenty square feet in which to move around, there's only so much she could do to keep herself occupied.

This happened every time they flew to their next destination on Sokka's Master Plan. Aang and Katara would take turns bending and cat-napping while Sokka would either gripe or sleep. Toph would be left to her own devices for the duration of the trip.

At first, she didn't mind the solitude. When she had begun traveling with the Avatar, back when she was helping Aang for her own selfish escape from her protective parents, Toph actually enjoyed the relative privacy. Being surrounded by air and completely blind for the first time in her whole life frightened the indomitable girl like nothing else had. Let the others think she was sullen and abrupt – Toph knew that only the reassuring whispers of metal in Appa's saddle wall and buckles kept her from screaming with pure panic.

It had taken a week or two or four, but Toph had gradually learned to compensate for the lack of earth by using her ears to hear sound rather than her feet to feel vibrations like she normally did. A rustle of fur on cloth, and Toph knew Katara was moving on Appa's head, waterbending cloud cover to follow their movements. A low, breathy sigh as much as shouted that Aang was relaxing against the back saddle wall, pretending to sleep but most likely watching Katara when he thought no one could see. Toph felt vaguely insulted that her observational skills were so casually dismissed – Twinkletoes should know that she was always watching, whether they were earthbound or not.

As sensitive as she had grown to the subtle sounds around her, Toph jerked and nearly fell out of the saddle when Sokka suddenly snored. She shot a glare in his general direction. Stupid Snoozles. She rubbed her fingers over the meteorite armband. It was just a hair too tight these days – she must've added more muscle. With a quick finger flex she widened the circle and sighed a bit as blood rushed down her arm to restore flow to her hand.

Actually, the bracelet would be the perfect thing to keep her boredom at bay! Toph couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. She smirked at her own genius. The bracelet unwound itself at her motioned command and slithered down her arm like a pricklesnake. Toph wove it between her fingers as if it was one of the many ribbons she'd owned back home at the Bei Fong family mansion. There was one crucial difference between those ribbons and Toph's metal, though: the fabric ribbon couldn't produce the sharp thorns that sprang from Toph's knuckles when she squeezed and pulled with her free hand, bending the metal to shape.

Toph was turning her hand, admiring her work, when the sharp points gave her another idea. Why couldn't she mold and create with Sokka's meteorite sword? She'd only play with it while he was sleeping, and it would be a simple matter of bending it back to its original shape. It wasn't like he was using it right now anyway, Toph reasoned, crawling across the saddle to where she guessed Sokka was most likely laying. And it'd be back before he even realized it was gone.

Toph's hand knocked against Sokka's leather boot. She froze as he rolled over, mumbling incoherently. Okay, maybe it wasn't so incoherent: he'd said, "Suki." Or maybe it'd been "Yuki." Toph gritted her teeth to keep from growling and waking Snoozles. And why do you care if he's yattering about Suki or Yuki or whoever else he's dreaming about in that thick head of his? Toph scolded herself. She shook her head and grabbed the pack that her other hand had brushed when she'd tapped Sokka's boot. It shouldn't matter what (or who) he was dreaming about. And it didn't matter. Really.

Toph scooched back to her corner of the saddle with her prize. She rummaged around in the sack, looking for the sword. Her calloused fingers caught on the rough binding of the sheath. At least, she thought it was the sheath. She dragged her fingers up and down the long leather tube and sensed the faint, familiar ring of meteorite metal.

Grinning like a fool, she drew Sokka's sword, reverently caressing the hilt and blade. The metal sang at her touch, practically quivering. It wanted to mold itself into something new; it wanted to flow into different shapes and forms at her command.

Smiling even wider, Toph carefully placed the blade in her lap and arched her fingers above the now-warm metal, preparing to make a multi-faceted star, or perhaps a replica of her earthbending champion belt.

And then Sokka started moving.

He was curled into a tight ball on his side, as if suddenly cold with the loss of his pack. Toph's sensitive ears could hear him mumbling, his heartbeat pounding so loudly that Toph thought even Aang, the most unobservant person on the planet, could hear. Toph forgot about the sword on her lap and began to edge around the saddle to Sokka, who was still whimpering with distress. It slid down her legs and Toph paused to catch it. She grabbed the blade end first and cursed when it sliced into her palm like the fine edged weapon it was. She tore a strip from her shirt edge and wrapped it around her hand. Once the makeshift bandage was in place, she carefully grasped the sword and bent it until the edges were turned in and around on itself, so it wouldn't cut her again.

Grabbing the sword a second time in a grip that could (and actually did) crush metal, she made it the rest of the way around the saddle in time to hear Sokka moan, "Suki… Suki! Firebenders…" He thrashed for a moment before becoming still, though Toph still heard his labored breathing.

"He's having a nightmare." Toph jumped as Katara leaned around Toph's shoulder to peer at her brother. Toph'd been so focused on Sokka that she hadn't heard Katara and Aang approach from behind.

"So what do we do, then?" Toph grumbled, irritable. Katara's icy cool breath was doing nothing to help her mood. It just made her colder, and it was cold enough in the perpetual shade of their cloud.

Katara huffed and prepared to stalk away, but Toph heard Aang move and restrain Katara lightly. _Good for you, Twinkletoes,_ Toph applauded silently. _So you finally got the courage to touch her._

Unaware of his silent critic, Aang told Katara, "He's your brother. Help Toph, will you?"

Katara sighed again, though there was less attitude behind it. "Alright." She plopped down on Toph's left, while Aang settled on Toph's right.

"Hey, what happened to Sokka's sword?" Aang asked curiously. Toph frowned and clutched it all the more tightly with her bandaged right hand.

"Never you mind," she said testily. She turned her attention back to Sokka. "So what do we do, wake him up? It'll stop the dream."

"Great idea!" Aang enthused, and proceeded to airbend a huge breath, no doubt intended to wake Snoozles from his nightmare.

"No!" Toph heard a slap and Aang's indignant "Ow!" "You never wake a dreamer!" Katara continued. "It'll scare them even more than the dream."

"Suki!" Sokka screamed and his body jerked a hair away from Toph's knee, as if he was trying to run or fight. Toph could smell his sweat, and wrinkled her sensitive nose.

"Sounds like Suki's in trouble in his dream," Aang observed.

Toph swallowed the caustic retort that bubbled up, knowing that she needed their help. "So Suki's the problem, right?"

Katara replied and Toph could hear the disapproving frown in her voice. "Suki's in danger, apparently, so yes, I guess."

"And if Sokka knew that Suki was okay, he'd settle down, right?" Toph continued.

"I suppose…"

Toph smirked. "Problem solved." She brandished the sword, ignoring Katara's gasp and Aang's frantic "Hey, watch where you're swinging that thing!" She arched her hands above the sword and curled her fingers, willing the metal to warm and flow in this cold altitude.

"What're you doing?" Katara demanded.

"I'm going to be Suki."

"What?!"

"Shut up," Toph said absently, her mind on the task of keeping the metal just fluid enough to work with without completely turning in to mush. "This is just to be safe, in case he wants me to prove I'm Sukki."

"Oh."

And Toph had no more interruptions as she worked. Toph drew on her memories of the feeling of Suki's Kyoshi warrior gear – the metal fan sunrise headpiece, the one that she had felt brush against her cheek when Suki had saved her from drowning in Serpent's Pass. Yet another occasion Sokka had failed and let a woman do the work. Toph snorted and put the finishing touches on her new Kyoshi warrior gear. She placed it on her head and turned towards Katara.

"So, will I pass for Suki?"

Aang smothered a giggle, and Toph heard laughter in Katara's voice as she said, "Um, Toph? You forgot about the hilt."

Toph frowned and felt her head. Sure enough, there was a rigid metal piece where there had been none on the original. It felt dorky. Toph was sure it looked dorky. Toph felt heat flare in her face while Aang collapsed in laughter. She snapped it off and placed it on the saddle.

Toph heard Katara hit Aang a second time and the giggles abruptly stopped. "Just go on, Toph," Katara said soothingly. "Just be Suki for a minute."

'Be Suki'? Toph snorted. Right. Like she could be like that prissy makeup wearing… cute, brave, funny, and confident warrior. Suki was incredible. Toph's resolve began to waver. Toph was a dirty little girl who played in the dirt. How could she begin to measure up to Suki?

Sokka screamed again, and Toph's indecision flickered and went out. Sokka, the brave young man who always made sure she was okay, was always there to lend a light in the dark – Sokka needed her. Or Suki, rather, but that was a moot point. She took a deep breath and leaned in as close as she dared. "Sokka?"

His motions slowed. "Toph?" He sounded confused.

"Try higher pitch!" Katara stage whispered behind her.

Toph cleared her throat and tried again. "Sokka, it's me." Her voice cracked, but she pushed on. "It's me, Suki."

Sokka's breathing slowed. "Suki…" His hand reached up in his sleep and brushed against the headpiece. "Suki, it _is_ you."

Toph was momentarily speechless. Sokka's rough fingers had caressed her face for a moment before dropping back to the saddle's floor. She felt her cheek burning where he had touched her, as if he had swiped a torch across her face. A nudge on her foot reminded her of what she was doing. "Sokka, I'm fine. Now sleep." Sokka mumbled what seemed like a protest, but Toph cut through it in fine Suki style. "Sleep! You have to regain your strength, warrior."

Sokka settled down. His breathing hitched for a second – was he laughing quietly? – before relaxing into a slow, deep pace. Toph remained where she was until she was certain that Sokka was asleep, then she slowly crawled backwards until she could no longer hear Sokka above the roaring wind around them all. Aang and Katara she heard return to Appa's head and begin to rebend the cover that had floated away while they had been distracted. Toph was left alone again.

She removed the Kyoshi warrior's headpiece and frowned, though she wasn't upset. The fan helmet had given her courage to become something she wasn't, though it was someone she wanted to be. She envied Suki her freedom, her obvious looks (apparent from Sokka's fascination, though she'd never really seen Suki), her sense of humor, her femininity. Toph envied Suki's hold over Sokka, something that she would never have. Oh, Sokka loved her, too – like a sister. Never more, never less.

And she was grateful for that attention, she who had never had a sibling. But she was grateful, too, for the fan helmet she had created, for it was like a mask. It had let her see through someone else's eyes – Suki's eyes – if only for a brief moment.

Carefully, deliberately, Toph crunched the helmet together until it resembled nothing more than a pile of scrap. She worked diligently, turning the meteorite metal back into a sword worthy of the brave warrior who carried it. Yes, she'd had her moment of fun, and it would have to do. She could not, would not, try to be anything more to Sokka. He had Suki, and Suki needed him. She wouldn't hurt Sokka and cripple Suki to suit her own selfish ends. She wasn't that selfish. At least, not anymore. Sokka, and Aang, and even (she admitted grudgingly) Katara had taught her a lot since she'd left her safe home so long ago. Sokka was her brother, and nothing would ever change that.

Finished. The sword was finished. Toph sat with it in her lap, sightlessly staring at the smooth metal surface that would now remind her of her secret dreams every time she touched it.

"Hey!"

Toph grinned and looked up. She felt Sokka towering over her sitting body. "Why do you have my sword?"

Toph held it up and pretended to consider it, all the while knowing that Sokka was just getting madder and madder by the second. "'Cause I wanted to look at it, that's why. Whatcha gonna do about it, Snoozles?"

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do!" Sokka raged. "You're dead – what happened to your hand?"

"What?" Toph was completely confused by this new train of thought.

"Your hand, Toph!" He grabbed her hand and turned it over in his hands.

"You cut yourself! I've told you to be careful with things, Toph! Katara!"

And while Katara climbed over the saddle wall to see what all the fuss was about, Toph grinned. Bison rides weren't so bad after all – especially when you have a sensitive older brother to tease until the end.


	3. Scene Three: Ice

**Scene 3: Episode 308 "The Bloodbender" **

**Disclaimer: I own a lot of things. Avatar: the Last Airbender doesn't happen to be one of them.**

**Sorry, I was on a youth retreat this weekend, so I just got in last night. Here's an update for the latest episode that aired in the US. Enjoy!**

**Summary: ****Katara's selfloathing after her fight needs some spiritual intervention**

**Scene Three: Ice**

Katara sobbed uncontrollably into her hands, feeling the water trickle between her fingers to drip on the dry ground beneath her feet. The earth practically slurped up the moisture, all the available water having been removed in the fierce combat between her and that… that _monster_. The ground silently begged for more water to ease its dry thirst, and Katara was more than happy to comply.

"Um… Katara?" Aang ventured hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

Katara bit back the sarcastic retort that had fizzled onto her tongue. Aang didn't deserve a verbal whipping from her. So even if she wanted to scream, no, stupid, of course I'm fine, I've just become a monster like that thing hiding in Gran-Gran's body, why wouldn't I be – she couldn't.

"Katara?"

Damn him and his stupid caring heart, Katara thought bitterly. "No, Aang, I'm not alright," she answered him. Her voice was clogged and her nose ran. She sniffed and continued, tears never stopping their trickle down her cheek.

She heard Aang shift behind her, resting more of his arm across her back. His brotherly love was suffocating, sometimes. "Maybe I could –"

Katara's other brother interrupted. "Let her be, Aang."

Aang paused at the calm control in the other boy's voice. Slowly, he withdrew his arm from Katara's back, and she tried not to be too obvious in her sigh of relief. "She just needs to be alone for a little while," Sokka continued. "Let her be."

Katara tried to grin through the tears, but her mouth twisted into a terrible grimace instead. She remained crouched on the ground as the other two walked away, Sokka still talking to Aang in that same calm tone, the one she herself had used on injured penguins and seal pups back home.

Home. Katara stumbled onto her feet, her legs swaying dangerously beneath her. She really wasn't stable enough to stand, let alone walk, but she had to get away from this place. Homesickness was bad enough. This tainted ground compounded the wounds in her soul tenfold. She needed to get to the only place that she could call home anymore, and she heard it murmuring softly in the distance.

Katara staggered through the trees like a blind woman, following her ears and the clean scent of water that wove in and out of the boughs to beckon her to her safe haven. She burst through the underbrush, scratched and scared and sobbing, to collapse at the stream bank. The full moon shone softly through her hair to sink into her skin, into her muscles and veins, into her heart and head. Despite the delicate state of her emotions, this power was still flowing through her, and would the whole night through if she didn't do anything to stop it.

The tears slowed and stopped, but still she sobbed, dry, tearless sobs for herself, for her family, for the world. Somehow, in the course of a single evening, she had become the enemy. Just as surely as if she had betrayed the Avatar to the Fire Nation, she had become the enemy. No matter that she had saved Aang and Sokka from killing themselves like squealing pigs on a hunter's spear, no matter that the villagers were no longer going to be terrorized – none of that mattered. She had forced her will on someone else, and that made her no better than the very Fire Lord they fought. Wasn't that what he was trying to do? Force all the other elements to bow down to fire's superiority, just like she had forced an old woman to bow down before her own youth? It wasn't any different. It wasn't different at all.

Her fingers trailed in the burbling stream, creating little whirlpools and water spouts that twisted and writhed in time with the twitches of her fingertips. They followed the discordant music that jarred in her mind, the clashing harmonies of what she knew she had had to do – Aang could not die, not while she could have helped it – and what she knew was right and good in the world, and how she'd betrayed those morals – she had become as low as the monster she had fought this night.

The water reflected the moonlight, and Katara's dark eyes reflected the light back onto the rippling surface. _It's almost like it's glowing_, she thought absently, through the storm raging through her mind. _Like the Spirit Oasis…_

A shining ribbon of liquid rose out of the stream, twisting and undulating like a living creature, its 'head' bobbing up and down as if searching for something. Katara stared at the water, half-hypnotized by the rhythmic motions of the water ribbon. Her fingers stopped their sporadic twitching to lie peacefully in the water. The 'head' quested about for a moment more before bumping against her wrist.

Katara had just enough time to realize that the water was cold – ice cold, as if newly melted from the polar ice sheets – before the water ribbon wrapped around her wrist and froze into an icy bracelet. It glittered coldly in the dim light, a glacial diamond band.

Katara gaped at it, startled out of her self-pity in the marvel that was forming around her wrist. She peered closer at the ice and discovered that the ice was flawed – it had formed too quickly. Frost webs and irregular bubbles pierced the blue-white color. They were still forming, too. Actually… the bracelet was getting larger by the second, extending tendrils across her pulse point and the back of her hand to form almost a glove of living ice.

Her hand became cold, then colder yet. Katara vaguely raised her other hand to push the bracelet away to allow her skin to breathe and warm, but when her fingers touched the bracelet, it was so cold that it burned her skin. She jerked back her fingers with a yell and stared at the bracelet again, this time with naked terror.

"Take it off, Katara."

The cool, calm voice echoed in the woods, and Katara jumped up to defend herself. But her hand was too heavy from the newly forming ice, and it soon hung limp at her side.

"Who are you?!" she screeched, not even attempting to conceal her panic.

"Take it off," the voice insisted, and then Katara felt a cold presence hover over the creek. It wasn't unlike the time she'd seen the Painted Lady, this presence, but while that spirit-sense had been warm and welcoming, Katara could only sense the eyes that weren't really there, watching her every move.

Katara reluctantly tried to pry the bracelet off again, gritting her teeth against the ice burn, but the bracelet just continued to grow, heedless of her attempts to dispose of it. "I can't." She fell to her knees, and her head spun from the quick movements that she had indulged in over the last minute. "I can't."

The presence was silent. It floated, and said nothing.

Katara raised her head to glare at the space she was fairly certain was…whatever it was that was torturing her. "I can't!" Her vision blurred and cleared, and Katara felt her cheeks grow wet yet again. Amazing – she still had tears left to cry.

The presence remained silent, nothing more than moonlight and mist. It might not have even been there, except for the increasingly more painful bracelet – no, _manacle_ – that kept tightening and growing on her hand. It was like the living crystal King Bumi had made into a walking prison to coerce Aang into playing his sick little games, but somehow even that had less…calculation, more madness, more meaninglessness, than this manacle had behind it.

This was meaningful, alright. And it was getting pretty meaningfully irritating.

Katara's face heated as she realized what a fool she was being. _A Waterbender, scared of a measly piece of ice!_ her mind scoffed. _Surely you have not fallen so low as this._

_No,_ she thought back grimly. _I'm not quite that hopeless._

She stood up once more, this time with the strength of training and her own pigheadedness keeping her spine straight and her arms strong. The ice continued to creep along her hand and up her arm, but it would stop. Right. Now.

Katara placed her hand over the ice shackle and dug her nails into the ice, chipping them on the impossibly hard exterior. Privately she mourned over the loss of her perfect manicure – she spent so much time keeping up some modicum of civility! – but pushed that distracting irritation aside. She had to focus on the ice, because it wasn't exactly what she'd thought it'd been.

She closed her eyes and dove into the bracelet with her will, letting her senses seep into the ice's pores and fractures like a waterfall, bathing it in her power and soaking it with her thoughts and desires. This ice would do what she was telling it to do, be it spirit or man made.

As she examined the bracelet, though, she discovered a problem. The manacle had woven itself up and down her arm, yes, but had also pierced her veins and was drawing blood from her body to keep itself going! Katara felt dizzy just thinking about the bloodloss. Maybe her earlier vertigo hadn't been from the sudden movements, after all. Her will faltered for the briefest of seconds, and the manacle began to grow again, sucking up her blood to feed itself like a vile parasite. At this rate, she would be cocooned in an ice prison made from her own fluids. Her mind despaired. She couldn't win. She had never been taught anything to counter this…this madness! It was impossible.

Or had she?

Blood. Blood was the key. If she could bloodbend the ice back into her body, the shackle would melt and she'd be free. But that would require bloodbending… and Katara couldn't do that.

"Not to save yourself?" The voice was back, and was no longer impassioned. It was disgusted. "So you'll let yourself die, when you know the world and the Avatar – your Avatar – need you?"

Katara's hackles rose at the abrasive, cutting tone. No matter how terrible the tone, though, it provided the impetus she needed and she thrust her will on her own blood before she could talk herself out of it.

The ice shuddered and melted away into her bloodstream, cooling it and her heated heart like only icemelt could. It soothed the fires of self-loathing and hatred that Katara had kept stoked there, not only since her encounter with the demon-woman, but…well, if she were being honest, they'd been there since she'd failed her Avatar – her Aang.

And it was this realization of her self-loathing that returned cool reason to her mind. Yes, bloodbending was a terrible weapon, but she and Sokka and Toph and Aang all faced terrible enemies. It was more important that the world –and those she loved – survived than it was to forsake whatever resources they had available, no matter how distasteful.

Katara raised her head, her final tears shining on her face from the light of the moon.

"Thank you…Yue."


	4. Scene Four:A Series of Unfortunate Event

**Scene 4: Episode 309 "Nightmares and Daydreams"**

**Disclaimer: I own a lot of things. Avatar: the Last Airbender doesn't happen to be one of them.**

**Time for Sokka! I hope y'all like it. If you've got any suggestions/comments, please, feel free to review! Thank you to katana777, ****DuHSPaZZiNGFeL****and kasplosion for your lovely comments. I hope you like this one as much as the previous scenes. A big thanks goes out to Satyuros, my beta reader/general advice giver person!**

**A quick request, though – PLEASE do not spam my review page. It does nothing but make you look bad and clutter the space where **_**real, constructive, non-spoiler**_** reviews can be posted. I apologize in advance for this blemish in the reviews section. This individual has been blocked.**

… **Anyway, enjoy! Oh, and a quick heads-up – I am **_**NOT**_** making Sokka gay or anything in the following oneshot. I just set him up in a series of unfortunate – but hilarious! – events. **** Sorry to anyone who might be offended, nothing intended.**

**A/N – "kaka" is a misspelling of (I think this is how it's spelled…) "caca", which means, well, "poop." Long story there. The short version? Sokka's not being nice.**

**Scene Four: A Series of Unfortunate Events**

"Is he asleep?" Sokka peered into Aang's finally peaceful face, frowning slightly. "It _looks_ like he's sleeping, but who knows?"

Katara sighed, exasperated and exhausted. "He _better_ be sleeping. That stupid bed took hours. And don't you wake him up!" she snapped.

"Sheesh," Sokka grumbled, and Aang murmured gently in his sleep. Sokka quickly lowered his voice but continued haranguing his sister: "This kid could sleep through an earthquake even if he wasn't tired, which he is, so I don't think I'll wake him by speaking like a normal person, Kaka!"

Katara gasped in indignation. "You little –" Aang sighed and rustled a bit. Katara muted her cry.

"'Kaka'?" Toph asked, somewhere behind them in the shadows of the overhang. "Is this some weird southern Water Tribe thing?"

Sokka was busy staring at Aang's eyelids, wondering if Aang would wake up if he pried them open to really see if he was awake, but he heard Toph's question. He chuckled. "Nah, it's just a me and Katara thing, isn't it, sis?"

"You slimy pentapus!" Katara hissed. "You scrawny cavehopper! Hog monkey! Possum chicken!"

This time Toph joined Sokka in laughing at Katara's outrage. "You must've _really_ said something awful," Toph commented through her giggles.

"I'm not even the one who came up with it," Sokka complained. "It was a pretty good nickname, I must say. Especially when she was being a, ah, well… being hardheaded and know-it-allish."

"Sea slug!"

Sokka raised his pointer finger and his thumb, ready to peel back Aang's eyelid. With a shout that came fairly close to shrieking, Katara leapt upwards and landed on Sokka's back, prepared to force him bodily away from the sleeping boy. Unfortunately, Katara's momentum thrust Sokka's head downward at just the right (or wrong) angle, and Sokka's lips mashed against Aang's in a violent but real kiss.

Sokka was absolutely stunned. His sister was thrashing and screaming on his back for him to get away from Aang, the jerk, but wasn't getting off of his back. This left Sokka in the extremely awkward position of not being able to end the very disturbing situation.

A situation that only became more disturbing as Aang began to kiss him back, murmuring something nearly inaudible and his slightly chapped lips moving against Sokka's.

Needless to say, Sokka was quite disturbed, to the point where he didn't care if he hurt his only sister or woke the world's only hope for survival. With a feral roar, he threw Katara from his back and thrust his entire body away from the boy, who continued to kiss the air as if Sokka was still there. Sokka's skin crawled and his lips felt filthy as he recalled their unnatural encounter. Gross. Just gross.

"Sokka!" Toph's voice shot through Sokka's disgust and horror. Aang just rolled over and snuggled deeper into his koalasheep fleece covers. Sokka was vaguely surprised that, despite his earlier reassurances about Aang's sleeping habits, Aang hadn't woken yet, but he pushed that thought aside and turned to Toph.

It took a moment for his mouth to shape a response, but he eventually spat out, "Yes?" His lips weren't working properly after that evil "kiss."

"Katara's hurt," Toph said bluntly. Sokka's self-absorption immediately dissipated as he looked behind him and saw his sister crumpled on the ground. "She hit her head pretty hard; I could've sworn that even you could've felt the vibrations when she crashed."

"Great," Sokka moaned, and left Aang's bedside to crouch beside his sister. Having been trained as a warrior before Hakoda had left the Southern Pole, he knew all about the different injuries and how to tell who'd been hurt how, even if he couldn't cure them like his sister could. Sokka gently prodded Katara's still form, and she moaned when his fingers touched the back of her skull. Sokka grimaced.

"Yeah, she's got herself good this time. I hope she can fix it when she wakes up, otherwise she'll be out for the invasion tomorrow. Dad won't let her anywhere near the fighting with a concussion."

"You did it to her," Toph pointed out mercilessly as Sokka lifted his sister, cradling her head against his shoulder.

"If she hadn't jumped me like that, I wouldn't have thrown her," Sokka countered.

Toph followed the siblings up the slope to the fire Sokka had built earlier that day. She retrieved a bowl and a spoon from the fireside and began to ladle out a serving of seaprune stew that Katara had set to simmer that afternoon. "But if you hadn't antagonized her, she wouldn't have jumped you." Toph took a sip of stew and immediately spat it out onto the flames. The wood sizzled as the spit vaporized.

"Too hot?" Sokka inquired, smirking.

Toph made a face. "Yes, but I can – hey! Stop it!" Sokka had taken her bowl away and was grinding it into the dirt between them.

"Leave it be and let it cool," he ordered, and sighed, turning his attention back to his sister. She was still out cold. "You're right, Toph." Toph choked in surprise. Sokka glared at him. "Just shut up! Yeah, I shouldn't have said what I had, but she's just getting so…so irritating! I had to make her be quiet somehow, and that was the fastest way I knew how. Some of the younger boys would make fun of her when she'd try to tell them it was time to come in and eat or do chores. They tell her to stop acting thirty and call her 'Kaka.'"

"Yeah, that. What exactly does 'kaka' mean?" Toph asked, curious. Sokka glanced away, flushing a bit.

"Ah, well, I, um, said…" He looked down at his sleeping sister and gently got to his feet to whisper in Toph's ear. "I said …."

Toph listened for a moment to Sokka's hurried explanation. As soon as he finished and before he could move away, Toph neatly punched him. Sokka fell over, a look of surprise crossing his face before he blanked out.

Toph 'looked' at him for a moment, monitoring his life signs. Once confident that he was still breathing, she allowed herself a grim smile. "I still got it…" she murmured, but then a low moan coming from the fire summoned her. Toph hurried back to the river in time to sense Katara rising from the ground to sit up and clutch her head.

"Take it easy," Toph warned as Katara tried to move around from her seat. "Sokka said you had a concussion."

"Sokka!" Katara muttered as she jerkily waterbended the water out of her side skin. "That evil little –"

"You're right," Toph replied seriously. Katara was so surprised at Toph's response that her hands stopped moving, and the water snake that had been floating around Katara's head collapsed and soaked her from crown to toes. The girls laughed for a moment, and Katara twitched her fingers and became completely dry as the water swam through the air once more.

"I knocked him out for you," she added, and jerked her head to motion behind them. Katara peered over Toph's shoulder, the water glowing and fading into her scalp, and sure enough, there was Sokka, lying spreadeagled on the ground.

Katara relaxed and chuckled. "Thanks. I can't believe what possessed him…!"

Toph shrugged. "It happened enough back home. I'd 'watch' and listen to the servants' kids, and sometimes the one sister would just get a little too uppity, and the brother would get fed up and do something rash to make her stop."

"Surely you aren't referring to me and Sokka," Katara said drily.

Toph looked in Katara's general direction with a suspicious expression of pure innocence. "Would I do that?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well, now that you mention it…"

"Thanks, Toph. You're right."

"Of course I am." Katara snorted. "No, really!" Toph protested. "If your stubborn older brother admitted that I'm right, then obviously I am all-knowing. And the sky is green."

Katara giggled. "Never mind the sky. Sokka really said you were right?"

"Yes, he really did, after I had a talk with him. This was before I knocked him out," Toph added unnecessarily.

She laughed again. "Alright, then, all-knowing Toph, tell me this – how do you know the sky isn't green?"

"Easy – because the all-knowing Sokka told me it was blue."

The girls laughed together, and this time it was Sokka's groans that called Katara over to him. She leaned over his face as he stirred and grumbled and plucked one eyelid open. A blue iris stared at him, the white practically glowing in the semi-darkness, and he jolted awake with a scream.

"And that, dear brother," Katara said calmly as Sokka clutched his eye, "is why you don't do that to a sleeping person."

Sokka opened his mouth to reply with a sarcastic comment, but closed it abruptly. He twisted on the ground and bowed before his younger sister. "Please forgive this humble, unworthy boy for his stupid comments," he said, his voice muffled by the ground. "They were undeserving of you."

Katara chuckled and grabbed his arm to pull him to his feet. "Gran-Gran's not here to make you apologize like that anymore, Sokka, a simple 'Sorry' would've been fine."

Sokka looked down at Katara, his face rueful and apologetic. "That was the only way I could think of to really apologize. Really, sis, sorry."

Katara hugged one arm around his waist as they walked back to Toph and the fire together. "I think Toph's punished you enough for one night. Let's get something to eat and go to sleep."

"Agreed!"

Toph turned towards the siblings when she could hear their crunching footsteps. "Nice to see you back to your senses, Sokka," she commented as they settled down. "Let's hope you don't lose them again and say something stupid, shall we? I have a full-body slam that I have to practice yet…"

Sokka made a face and Katara laughed. "Give him a break, Toph."

"Okay, fine," she agreed readily. "Only, tell me this, Sokka – was Aang really as good a kisser as I think he is? You were kissing him a long time, back there…"

"WHAT?!" Both Sokka and Katara leapt to their feet, Sokka staring at Toph and Katara staring at Sokka.

"You know that I didn't like THAT, Suki's my – " Sokka yelled at Toph, flushing furiously.

"You did WHAT?! How could you –" Katara screamed at Sokka.

Sokka rounded on Katara. "Well, if _you_ hadn't mashed my head into Aang's lips, it wouldn't have happened!"

"Well, if _you_ weren't being such a boorish and stupid _possum chicken_, I wouldn't have had to stop you from doing something completely idiotic!"

While Katara and Sokka continued to argue, Toph settled back into her earthbended rock-seat with a sigh. She picked up her cooled stew and began to eat and listen to the night's entertainment.

Just another night with the Gaang. All was finally well.


	5. Deleted Scene: Sokka:The Last Fishbender

**Deleted Scene: "Sokka: The Last Fishbender"**

**Based on the lovely DeviantART by the same name created by klar. I hope she likes it as much as I liked her picture! This is based off of real-life conversations in my house, where one person starts a story and everyone else butts in whenever they feel like it.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER OR ANY RELATED CHARACTERS, SETTING, ETC. The story's mine, though. **

Deleted Scene – Sokka: The Last Fishbender

"So."

Everyone stared at Toph expectantly. It was immediately after supper, and the Gaang was sitting around the fire; not talking, not working, not sleeping, but simply _being_. Aang and Katara shared one log while Toph and Sokka leaned against another on the other side of the fire. Katara was learning new constellations from Aang (he remembered them from his Air Nomad days in the Fire Nation, visiting with Kuzon). Sokka was staring moodily at the fire. Everyone had thought Toph had been sleeping, but apparently not.

"So," Toph repeated.

Silence.

Sokka was the first to break. "'So' what?!" He threw a twig into the fire and watched the sparks fly up to eat it.

Toph smirked a little, as if unsurprised at Sokka's outburst. "_Sooo_" – she dragged the word out as long as she could, which only upset Sokka more – "does anyone have a story?"

"A story?" Katara frowned. "Why do you want a story?" She shivered a little, remembering the ghost stories they'd last told each other.

"I'm bored." Toph yawned to prove her point. "And I like hearing about your lives before this whole saving-the-world business."

"Really?" Katara raised one eyebrow. "Why would you like hearing about our boring old lives? You must've heard great Earth Kingdom myths and legends and stuff from your tutors or whatever," she added.

"Exactly! _Earth Kingdom_ stories, about people who never existed. Your stories about the Nomads and the Water Tribe are so different. They interest me. And I never knew much about normal people, anyway. The Bei Fong family is too rich to be normal," Toph said.

"You sound like a snob when you say that…Ow! That hurt!" Sokka yelped, rubbing his forehead. Toph had bended a pebble at him.

"Then don't say hurtful things," Toph said lazily. Sokka opened his mouth to protest, and Toph lifted her pinky. A rock hovered in the air, just waiting for Sokka to say something else stupid. Sokka shut up. "Smart choice, Snoozles."

Aang giggled and sat up. "What do you want to hear, exactly? I could tell you about the time me and Bumi went riding down the mailbins in –"

"Heard it," the group chorused.

"Okay, how about when I went riding on the giant Koi on –"

"Heard it."

"Or when Kuzon and me –"

"Heard it."

"Fine!" Aang pouted. "I don't see anyone else coming up with ideas!"

"Aang, those are all wonderful stories," Katara comforted, "but sometimes, we'd like to hear new stories." She placed a hand on Aang's arm, and Aang blushed, thankful for the flickering shadows that hid his infatuated reaction.

The group was silent. Suddenly, Sokka cried, "Hey, I've got one! And I promise you, this isn't one that anyone's heard!"

Aang looked excited. Katara looked skeptical. Toph looked amused. "Oh really?" Toph drawled.

Sokka stuck out his tongue at the blind girl. "Yes, _really_. This happened right before Dad left to go fight the Fire Nation.

"Okay, so the night before the men were gonna leave the tribe, we held this huge feast. Remember, Katara?"

"Yeah…" Katara's eyes were unfocused and her voice was rather dreamy. "That was the last time we had those sea-sugar balls 'cause the rest of the sugar went into their provisions…"

"Anyway, I wanted to bring something really awesome to the feast – I mean, this was the last time I was gonna see my dad for a while, right?"

Katara snorted. "Yeah, and you wanted to be named a man before the _real_ men left so you could go with them."

Sokka glared at his sister before continuing his story. "I decided to go fish hunting and bring back Ol' Blue."

"Ol' Blue?" Aang asked eagerly, his eyes shining with excitement from the story. "Who's that?"

"He was a giant fish as big as the watchtower in the village. No, wait, it was bigger! Bigger than the whole village! Its scales were as hard as rocks, and its eyes were as big as I am. Its teeth were razor sharp, and it had this slime that was as sticky as glue."

"It had no teeth!" Katara protested. "Fish that big don't have teeth; they have hair to catch shrimp and other things!"

"Look, am I the fisherman or not?! Aang, the thing had teeth as long as my arm! I knew that if I caught Ol' Blue, the men would have to see that I was a man! So I set out that morning, armed with nothing but my fishing pole and my wits –"

"Then you really had nothing but your fishing pole, did you?" Toph quipped.

"DO YOU GUYS WANT TO HEAR THE STORY OR NOT?!" Sokka shrieked. Everybody shut up. Sokka glared at the group indiscriminately, breathing heavily. "Alright, _no more interruptions,_ got it…? Good.

"Where was I? Oh, yeah. So I left the village and went to where the fish had last been seen in a little natural harbor by a glacier. I found a little spot next to an overhang of ice, and baited my giant hook with strips of iguana-seal jerky and left it in the water. I knew that Ol' Blue would come around sometime, because iguana-seal jerky was his second favorite food."

"What was his first favorite food?" Aang asked.

Sokka paused dramatically before whispering: "Human flesh."

"_Mrph_!"

Sokka rounded on his sister, who was trying desperately not to laugh. She was clutching her mouth with both of her hands, and her shoulders were shaking with the subdued laughter. "Do you have something to say, Katara?"

Katara shook her head, still covering her mouth.

"Good. As I was saying, Ol' Blue was destined to show up. And he did.

"I had been there for a good five hours, just biding my time. I was pretending to be asleep – to lull the beast into a false sense of security, mind you, not because I was tired or anything. I felt the line give a huge pull, and I grabbed it before the line and all fell into the sea. The water was frothing and choppy, as if there was a storm, but the day was clear. Sometimes a fin would emerge from the water and slap the surface, making these huge house-sized waves that would crash right underneath the ledge where I was standing.

"But I didn't back down. I held onto that pole with all my might – I must've held on for hours – and eventually Ol' Blue got tired and floated at the surface. I held on for a good half an hour longer, just to make sure that he wasn't tricking me. But no: I had honestly beaten the giant Fish of the South.

"I began to reel Ol' Blue in, but I saw how sad and miserable that poor fish looked with a hook in its lip. A huge tear welled up in one of its black eyes" – Katara snickered quietly, but Sokka plowed bravely on – "and I felt like crying myself. I was going to kill this majestic creature just so my father would call me a man. It seemed selfish and wrong, so I let it go.

"I pulled my hook out of its lip and, with a mighty leap, it dove back into the ocean. I walked back to the village that night empty-handed, and when my father asked where I'd been, I told him the truth: I'd had Ol' Blue, but I'd willingly let him go.

"Dad looked at me for a moment, and then he said – I'll never forget it – he said, 'Son, today you become a man for what you didn't do, instead of what you did.' He called me 'Fishbender'—"

"Fishbender?" Toph scoffed. "What's a fishbender?"

Katara answered before Sokka could shriek with indignation. "A fishbender is a master fisherman who can't bend. It's a great honor." She looked at her brother with new respect. "I didn't know Dad called you that."

"Well, he did, and said that since I was a man now, I was supposed to take care of the village. So I stayed behind, and that's all."

The Gaang was quiet for a minute. Katara finally said, "Good story, Sokka."

"Yeah, good story," Aang quickly added.

"Well," Toph said slowly, "it still doesn't explain one little thing."

"Oh?" Sokka looked at her inquiringly. "What?"

"If you caught some monster fish then, why can't you catch anything now?"

Sokka's face turned a mottled-purple color with rage. "Why you…!"

Aang and Katara laughed themselves silly as Sokka chased a giggling Toph around the campfire. Once Sokka had run himself to a gasping truce – Toph had used her earthbending walking-balls to roll across the ground and so was barely winded – the Gaang chattered easily for the rest of the night, the Fire Lord and the war forgotten for one blissful, peaceful evening.

**Well, you can probably see why I couldn't include it as a Scene. It wasn't based on an episode, first of all, and it was told in third person and not in anyone's POV. I hope y'all liked this one anyway! Tell me what you think!**

**Therese**


	6. FINAL AN

**(Final!) Author's Note: COMPLETE**

"**Scenes of Fire" is officially done! I know, I know – Scene Five: "Fire" was up and all, but I have since decided that one of the reasons I had such severe writer's block was that the story was telling me it was done. The Gaang started as four, and adding a fifth would be too weird at this point, and in this series.**

**Thank you to everyone who's read and stayed with me on this one! I hope you all liked the deleted scene in the last chapter: that was a Valentine's Day inspired drabble intended as a thank you gift to everyone who faved and reviewed the story. Y'all rock! I will hopefully be posting other oneshots as I become inspired by the second half of the season.**

**Scene Five: "Fire" will be posted as soon as it is fully completed.**


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